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Madurai train tragedy: Survivors recall cries for help after gas cylinder explosion
The fire erupted after an “illegally smuggled gas cylinder” exploded as some passengers tried to make tea in train coach parked at the Madurai railway station.
Lucknow: Sudden cries for help and people screaming “fire, fire”: this is how Alka Prajapati remembers waking up before escaping the burning train coach that claimed the lives of nine people.
Prajapati was among the 63 people who were in a chartered train coach parked at the Madurai railway station when a blaze tore through early on Saturday. The train carrying 55 passengers and eight helpers left Lucknow on August 17 and was scheduled to return on August 29. The passengers were headed to a pilgrimage in Rameswaram, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu.
The fire erupted after an “illegally smuggled gas cylinder” exploded as some passengers tried to make tea, the official added. Of the nine, seven have been identified so far, said a statement from the Uttar Pradesh government.
“The six deceased were identified as Parmeshwar Dayal Gupta (55) from Hardoi, Satru Daman Singh (65) and Mithilesh Kumari (62) from Sitapur, Shanti Devi (67) from Lakhimpur Kheri, Manaroma Agarwal (80) and Himani Bansal (22) from Lucknow and Ankul Kashyap from Sitapur (32),” the statement added.
Uttar Pradesh resident Alka Prajapati, who was sleeping in the coach when screams of “fire, fire” erupted, said she instinctively scurried towards safety and found the train door locked. “We were sleeping when we heard the cries and tried to escape. The door was locked so we could not escape immediately. Someone broke the lock and we came out. There was thick smoke and I couldn’t breathe properly and just took God’s name,” she told news agency PTI.
Shiv Pratap Singh (65), a resident of Sitapur who lost his wife Mithilesh and brother-in-law Satru in the fire, was among several others who were rescued and rushed to the hospital for treatment. “A tour we planned turned out to be our worst nightmare.”
Recalling the moments before the blast, Singh said: “Around 4:30am, while we were sleeping, the support staff from the tour operator got up to make tea which caused the blast.The fire soon engulfed the entire coach. My wife and my brother-in-law were seriously injured. We were all rushed to the district hospital in Madurai where my wife and brother-in-law succumbed to their injuries. My sister-in-law and I were discharged after first aid.”
According to one of the survivors, only after a locked door was broken open could many even run towards safety, possibly avoiding a bigger tragedy.
Vinod Kumar, who managed to run to safety as fire engulfed the non-AC, sleeper-class compartment, told news agency PTI that “sudden shrieks and cries for help jolted me out of sleep and I ran for our life”.
Jyoti Gupta (51) from Hardoi, who was travelling with at least six people, said passengers scurrying for safety had to break open the coach door to save themselves. “We were woken up by a pungent smell, and suddenly panic took over. We tried to run to safety but the gates were bolted shut. We had to break one of the doors to save ourselves,” she said, adding that her husband’s friend Parmeshwar Dayal Gupta died in the incident.
Pradeep Gupta (26) from Hardoi, who lost his father-in-law Parmeshwar Dayal Gupta, said: “My wife managed to escape as she was near the gate of the compartment.”
An eyewitness, auto driver Mannan Prakash, said the people in the vicinity rushed to the accident spot soon after hearing a “sound”, but could not get near due to the fire.
“Some got stuck inside. They could not get down (quickly) since it was a sleeper coach,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
Ram Manohar Verma (70), a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri, said: “I lost my wife and my 22-year-old grandson Harsh Verma is undergoing treatment at the hospital. I am just praying for his speedy recovery and waiting for my family members,” he added.
